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Oprah Winfrey Gives $12 Million To Museum of African American History

By: Associated Press
June 11, 2013
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The National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall will be completed in late 2015.
Image courtesy of National Museum of African American History and Culture
The National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall will be completed in late 2015.

Oprah Winfrey is giving $12 million to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, now under construction along the national Mall.

Winfrey had already given the museum $1 million, making her total contribution the museum's largest to date. In announcing Winfrey's gift, the museum said it will name its 350-seat theater after the media mogul.

The federal government is providing half of the funding for the museum, with an overall cost estimated at $500 million. The rest is being raised privately.

President Obama helped break ground on the museum early last year. When it's finished, it will be the 19th Smithsonian museum and will house artifacts including Harriet Tubman's shawl, Emmett Till's casket and a segregated railroad car from the Jim Crow era. It's expected to open in late 2015.

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